Through Grey and Golden Eyes
by Avatar Mario
Summary: Takes place during WAT. It's Kataang, but it has a plot beyond romance. Slight Tokka and slight Maiko. Rated T for inevitable swear words.
1. Prologue

Through Grey and Golden Eyes: Prologue

The bison ride was long, and passed in silence.

Night had fallen on the Day of Black Sun, and the whole group had been drifting in and out of a worried sleep that was haunted by nightmares. Aang was having trouble staying awake to steer Appa in the darkness of the New Moon. Teo, Haru, and the Duke were fast asleep on Appa's back, not as affected by the day's events as the members of the Avatar's party. Katara and Toph attempted to join them in sleep, but fear of an unknown future kept them awake. Sokka stared out into the distance; lost in his thoughts.

Appa flew under the cliffside where the Western Air Temple was hidden. Even the exhausted group took time to admire the odd design of the once-great temple. Katara wished she could have seen it when it was in repair and was filled with airbenders, who were all as light-hearted and fun loving as Aang was, though he was not at the moment. Everyone slid off of Appa as he landed with an ungraceful thud, and Toph lowered Teo down with a few tired earthbending motions. The three "guests" of the group sleepily made their way to the bedrooms and fell asleep. But Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph knew that their troubled minds wouldn't be merciful enough to them to let them go to sleep. Aang found some spark rocks and Sokka gathered a few twigs, and they lit a tiny campfire.

The four sat there, huddled around a pathetic fire in the stone courtyard, for a long time. There were no words for what they were feeling, and if there were, they lacked the ability to say them. So they sat there in silence. Sokka was trying to think. It seemed like The Day of Black Sun had been their plan forever. To the young warrior it felt like years ago since they found out about the solar eclipse, Yue's attempt to help even more than she had by sacrificing herself. But he messed it up. Azula outwitted him. He felt like he and she were in a game of Pai Sho, and she had just worked the few tiles into a corner. So the question became…

"...What do we do now?"

This simple question unearthed a feeling of despair deep inside Toph. She tried very hard to hide the tears that were rolling out of her unseeing eyes and down her face. She tilted away from what was left of the fire and into the darkness of the New Moon. Katara saw past Toph's attempt to hide her weakness, but Aang and Sokka were too engulfed in their own thoughts. Eventually, a single sob burst from the youngest of the group and went echoing through the temple. Aang, Katara, and Sokka looked over and saw that Toph's outer shell had been cracked, leaving a crying, blind, twelve-year-old girl in front of them. They moved closer together to comfort each other, as more sobs echoed through the canyon.

Without the Moon to shine on them, it was too dark to see beyond the tiny burning embers where fire once was, but they knew the Sun would eventually rise to the height of the sky and beat down on everyone under it.

The four children who were being asked to be heroes knew that it was only a matter of time.

A/N: Alright, my first fan fiction! Please review, it's always good to know that people enjoy my writing. I promise the rest of the chapters will have more "meat" on them. (Meaning: dialogue, action, romance, plot) This was sort of a fun experiment for me that also set the stage. I wanted to try long descriptive stuff with lots of symbolism. Because it's a big part of this, and maybe only I get this part, the Moon is hope, and the Sun is the Fire Nation.

The story will be Kataang, I promise, but I want to actually get some non-romance stuff in before I get into relationships. It will start sort of Zuko centric, with plot, action etc. But then it'll switch to Aang centered and have the romance everybody loves. That's the second reason it's called "Through Grey and Golden Eyes." The first one I want to keep secret.

AM


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar and I'm not making money. And no, this isn't one of those funny disclaimers. Just read the story. Idiot.

Aang woke slowly, with a relaxed look on his face. His eyes were still closed, and he was in a good mood after a long night's sleep.

Then he opened his eyes.

He was in the Western Air Temple.

They fled there after the Day of Black Sun invasion failed.

The invasion failed.

_He_ failed.

Reminded of this harsh reality, he got up and walked to the small fire, which had been rebuilt after last night. His friends were sitting around it, eating rice and discussing the war in a manner that was very odd for teenagers. As Aang walked closer, he heard Sokka say, "Well, all I know is that yesterday was an eventful day."

"I think you're going to need a better word, Sokka," Aang said sleepily while rubbing his eye.

"Aang! You're awake!" Katara said in a way that reminded everyone of a night aboard a Fire Nation ship, which was weird, since she just saw him last night.

"Hey Katara," Aang said, trying to sound casual. He realized that that 'Hey Katara' was unlike any other 'Hey Katara' in the history of 'Hey Katara's. He had kissed the girl of his dreams! He was too busy the day before to let it sink in, but it was one of the best moments of his young life. Aang realized that it was true that even the darkest cloud had a silver lining. But it was best now to play it cool and ignore it. Be aloof, like Sokka said all those months ago. The right moment would come.

"So, what are we talking about?" Aang said as he tried to change the topic.

"We're planning," Sokka replied.

"Snoozles is planning. We're here to agree with him, tell him he's special, and hit him when he's an idiot," Toph said.

"I'm serious," Aang and Katara looked over and saw that Sokka was, for once, completely serious, "We need to figure out how Aang's going to learn firebending and defeat the Firelord." Aang sat down, took a bowl of rice, and tried to figure out what they should do next.

After fifteen minutes of relative silence, Toph said, "It's like beating your brain against a wall! We have no placeto go from here."

Katara sighed as she got up. "I think Toph is right, at least about the sitting here part. We should take a break. Hopefully something'll come to us."

About 30 feet above them, and 2 miles to the east, Zuko was making his way toward them.

"I really should have learned how to fly that stupid war balloon," Zuko muttered to himself as he walked through the forest. It took a while, but eventually Zuko made it to a cliff cutting off and going down into a valley.

"Great," Zuko thought, "I've gone completely in the wrong direction. Now who knows where they went." As he walked away, the traitor prince thought he heard some voices below him. Zuko made his way over and peered over the edge of the cliffside. He saw the points of what looked like… buildings?

"What the?" Zuko said, "Upside-down buildings?" It occurred to Zuko that perhaps the airbenders could somehow change gravity, until he realized that it was an optical illusion, and you walked on the underside of the buildings. "This is the kind of thing Uncle would love," Zuko thought. If only he could be here with him, to show him how to start on his new path in life. Pushing these sad thoughts out of his head, Zuko prepared for his descent.

In the Western Air Temple, it was an average day for the children. Haru, Teo, and The Duke were relaxing and looking around. Aang was training with Katara and Toph, and Sokka was making a very important decision between his two great loves: his boomerang and his sword. Now that they weren't undercover, he could use his boomerang. But he was trained in the art of the sword. This was a difficult decision indeed.

Zuko had been walking around for a few minutes when he heard some talking, but he couldn't identify the voices as the Avatar or his friends. When he followed the voices he discovered their sources were an earthbender practicing, and a crippled boy and a young child watching.

"Er, excuse me?" Zuko said, making his presence known, "Do any of you know where I can find the Avatar?"

"Who wants to know?" said the boy in the wheelchair, rolling forward.

"Easy, Teo," The earthbender said.

"I don't mean the Avatar any harm, but it's urgent that I speak to him," Zuko said.

"Alright, he's this way."

They took Zuko to a courtyard, where the Avatar he had spent so long hunting was practicing bending earth and water at the same time. With one hand, he was moving a rock, and with the other, he was freezing and unfreezing some levitating water. His teachers were supervising, occasionally correcting his form. The warrior was holding up a sword and a boomerang, and looking back and forth between the two.

"Hey Aang, there's someone who needs to talk to you," the young boy said.

"Who would b-" The words died in Aang's mouth as he and his friends turned around and saw Zuko's scarred face. The Avatar reacted quickly, as he had been trained to. He flung the rock at the Fire Prince, then froze the water into icicles and did the same with them. Zuko dodged the rock, and sliced the icicles with his twin swords, then put them into his scabbard and threw them to Aang's feet. The Duke, Haru, and Teo sensed they weren't needed and backed away.

As he put his hands on his head, Zuko said, "Easy, Avatar, I'm not here to fight."

"Well, this is a new approach," Sokka said. None of the members of the Avatar's group knew how to react to this odd spectacle.

"I need to talk to you."

"Well, he's not listening," said the waterbender, whose name escaped Zuko.

"Easy, Katara," the Avatar said, "if he doesn't want to fight, let's hear what he has to say," he then turned to the Fire Prince, "What do you want, Zuko?"

"I- I've come to apologize. And to tell you that I've changed."

"Seems like an awful long way to go just for an 'I'm sorry,'" the warrior said with an accusing tone.

"No, I want to help you defeat my father," Zuko said. The waterbender laughed out loud.

While Zuko and the girl were arguing, the Water Tribe boy said, "Toph, shouldn't you make some sort of cage? You know, so that he doesn't kill all of us?"

"Why?" Toph said, "He not going to fight. And shouldn't we be accepting all the help we can get?"

"I got it, Sokka," the Avatar said as he made a few motions with his hands and feet. Sharp stones came up at the ground and Zuko's body was trapped by tall rocks that formed a cone around his body, with the pointed edges aimed at his jugular.

"Give us one reason we should listen to you!" Katara said angrily as she pulled some water out of her skin.

"Because the Avatar needs a firebending teacher!" Zuko yelled. And with a softer tone, he said, "If he wants to have a chance against my father, he will need to master firebending. And I can teach him."

"Great! We need a firebending teacher for Twinkletoes." Toph said.

"Toph, Toph, Toph… You're so naïve. He's lying. He'll take Aang back to the Firelord while we're sleeping."

"Sokka, Sokka, Sokka… You're an idiot. He's not lying. I can feel it."

"He isn't?" the Avatar said.

"Well, his heartbeat is normal. Can he lie as well as Azula?" At this, Aang, Katara, and Sokka burst out laughing.

"Wait a minute," Sokka said, "Where's your uncle?"

Katara leapt on this opportunity, "Yeah, if you're so good, why isn't Iroh with you?"

Zuko looked at the ground, trying to avoid the jagged rock, "He broke himself out of jail before I could tell him I'd changed sides."

"Oh, that's convenient," Katara said sarcastically

"Can any relative of Iroh be that bad?" Toph asked. Once again, everyone laughed, including Zuko.

"You're on a roll," Sokka said, and Zuko thought he saw a blush on the blind girl's cheeks.

"She's never met my father," Zuko said.

"She's never met you," Katara snapped.

It briefly crossed Zuko's mind that the Avatar's girlfriend is really cold.

"Uh, guys, huddle up?" Aang said. The four of them walked away from Zuko and put their heads together. Zuko watched as he reached out of the cage and scratched his nose, cutting his wrist on the rock. He heard angry whispers from Katara, Sokka, and Toph and wondered what the odds were that the Avatar and his friends would kill him. Zuko stopped halfway. He didn't like what he found.

"The bastard will kill us in our sleep!" Katara whispered angrily.

"He's being sincere, I can feel it. Besides, who else will teach Aang firebending?" Toph said.

"People don't just change like that. Once an evil firebender, always an evil firebender," Sokka said. Aang was watching the three-way argument, while having one of his own in his head. What Katara and Sokka were saying went against everything the monks said about forgiveness, but how could he allow his worst enemy to be his teacher?

"How about we keep asking him questions, and see if we can get him to let something slip?" Sokka said.

"Fine," Toph replied, and they broke the huddle.

When they came back to Zuko, the Water Tribe siblings took turns interrogating him, with Toph acting as a lie detector. Meanwhile, the Avatar stared up at Zuko, as if the answer to the decision he had to make was on his scarred face.

This continued for a few minutes, and when Katara, Sokka, and Toph turned around to consult, Zuko looked at the Avatar and said very quietly, "You once asked me if we could be friends. I'd like to find out."

The Avatar and the Fire Prince locked eyes for a long time as memories of an escape from a Fire Nation base and a question that was never answered flashed through grey and golden eyes.

Then, the Avatar did something that surprised both Zuko and himself: he lowered the earth cage. However, Zuko was leaning back on it, so he fell backwards to the ground. The Avatar extended his hand to Zuko with a slight smile on his face. Zuko took his hand and got up.

At the sound of Zuko falling, the other three members of the Avatar's group turned around. When Toph realized what had happened, she went over and gave a high five to Zuko, much to his confusion. Katara and Sokka were considerably less happy, though. "Okay, what the hell just happened?" Sokka asked.

"I need a firebending teacher, so I think we should let him join. I believe in second chances, and besides, we could take Zuko if he tries anything," The Avatar said.

"Thank you, Avatar," Zuko said as he bowed. Aang respectfully bowed back.

"Well," Sokka said, "we can't really override Aang's decision. He's the one who needs to learn firebending."

Katara sighed. "Fine. Let the Firelord's join. But I'm against this."

"Noted," Toph said, "Now, when's dinner?"

At dinner, Zuko sat several feet away from the fire and the other members of the group, eating quietly. When everyone finished, they sat around the fire talking. Katara left the circle, saying she was going to bed early. As she walked by Zuko, she leaned over to him and said, "Hurt Aang and I will make damn sure that it's the last thing you ever do."

Zuko just sat there as Katara walked away, trying to comprehend that the Avatar's girlfriend just threatened his life.

A/N: Sorry it took so long, guys. I've been up in Canada for 6 weeks with no internet. I've decided that it'll be 5 chapters, excluding the prologue. There'll 2 ½ chapters following Zuko and his quest to join the Gaang and 2 ½ chapters following Aang and focusing on Kataangy goodness.


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar. If I did, I wouldn't change a thing. Why do people use this space to voice their frustrations about the show?

Zuko awoke to a badgerfrog croaking nearby. He looked outside and was relieved to see the Sun had not risen yet. He pulled himself out of his bed and went over to the Avatar, who was sleeping on his bison. When Zuko shook him to wake him up, the young Avatar looked at him and rolled over.

That bastard. And he was having the best dream, too. He was flying through the sky on Appa, and he had just told Katara that he loved her. She felt the same way, and he was woken up just as they were leaning in to each other, eyes closed, lips out...

"Get up. It's time to start your training," Zuko said.

"Jus a sec," Aang murmured and tried to finish the dream with his imagination. They were leaning in, and...

Zuko pulled him off of the bison. "Listen, Avatar, your other teachers may have gone easy on you, but I will not. Now get up. A firebender's strength is greatest when the Sun is up."

"So you wake me up before dawn because-"

"You can't get reliant on the Sun. If you get used to firebending without the Sun, you'll be much better when it's up."

The Avatar followed him, mumbling something about liking Zuko better when he was trying to capture him.

"Alright," Zuko said, "Let's see how much fire you can make without any training."

Aang remembered what Jeong Jeong had said, and assumed what he thought was a good firebending stance.

Zuko, who was standing a few feet in front of him, also assumed a stance. He prepared to block a powerful Avatar-caliber fire blast.

Aang took a step forward and stuck out his fist.

The air around Zuko heated up about 3 degrees. He was so convinced that the Avatar would produce a large blast of fire that he even did the motions, making an arrow with his arms and pushing them out.

Aang looked at his firebending teacher, who was making ridiculous motions, with a concerned look.

Zuko looked around, trying to find remnants of Aang's fire-blast. It dawned on him what had happened and he put his head in his hands. "Good lord, it's worse than I thought," he said.

The pair began again at noon, with much better results. After about half an hour, the Avatar began to create a little fire. Eventually, he created a full fledged blast of fire.

"Woah!" the young Avatar said with excitement bristling in his voice. He looked down at his hands, as if they were different from a few seconds ago. The Avatar stuck his fists forward three more times and three more shots of flame came out. As Zuko watched, his expression changed from one of pleasure to one of frustration.

"That's enough!" Zuko said and with a movement of his hand, the flames died. "We're done for now."

"But I just got the hang of it."

"No, you didn't. We'll start again later." Aang was confused, but left anyway. Zuko exhaled and sat down on a nearby rock. He looked down at a leaf that was burning from one of the Avatar's embers and wondered if someone like Zhao could have been someone like Aang before he could wield fire.

A/N: Sorry it takes so long for me to write these, but it's a combination of writer's block, lack of motivation, and lack of free time. I've decided to upload these in smaller chunks, rather the 10 page colossus that was chapter 1. This is just the beginning of the Aang learning firebending arc. There'll probably be 1 more chapter to end this, then end the Zuko half and get into more Kataang

AM


	4. Chapter 3

"And every time I get better, we stop. It's been six days since we started and we're still just doing the basics!" Aang couldn't figure out why Zuko kept holding him back.

"Maybe he's trying to sabotage you so it's easier for the Firelord to beat you," Katara said.

"No, he just has a different teaching style. Listen to him, do what he says, and you'll get it," Toph said.

"Have you considered that he's just weird? Or crazy? Or both?" Sokka said.

"Sokka, sometimes I think you're the wisest of us all," The Avatar said as Toph sighed.

"If you have a problem with my teaching style…" Zuko had been listening the whole time.

"And if I do?" The Avatar shot back. He normally wouldn't have been so disrespectful, but lately he had been more temperamental. Zuko looked like he was going to respond, but just gestured to their usual training spot.

* * *

Aang created another blast of fire after only five minutes this time, and it was even bigger than ever. He could contain it to a point, but the flame got out of control and spread. Zuko immediately stopped the fire and asked the Avatar, "Can you not handle this? How will you stand a chance against my father if you can't handle a simple flame?"

"What do you mean? That was a huge flame!"

"That's the problem! You have no control over your bending."

"I could have put the fire out!" Aang was yelling now.

"No, you're falling into the same pit that my father and sister and I did! And it's a long climb back up!" Zuko was matching the Avatar's volume now.

"I'm nothing like Ozai or Azula, or, or… like you used to be."

"You sure are bending like them!" Zuko included who he used to be as 'them.'

"Leave me alone! My bending is fine! It's better than yours!" The Avatar threw his hands in the air.

"You want me to leave you alone," Zuko said, ignoring the last comment, "Fine. Then stop acting like a kid with blasting jelly and starting acting like the Avatar!"

"You can't expect me to stop the entire Fire Nation!" One of his motions started a small spark behind him.

"Not a nation. One man."

"Why me? Why not someone else?" The Avatar started to back away now.

"Because no one else can! Because no one else will!" Zuko advanced towards him. The weight of Zuko's statement awoke him from his recent rage. "Turn around," Zuko said with a jerk of the head. Aang looked behind him and saw that he had started a fire that had spread to some nearby plants and had scorched the left side of a monk statue's face.

The Avatar quickly bended some water from a fountain and put out the fire. Then he fell to the ground with his head in his hands. He was silent for a long time before mumbling, "I feel sick."

"That feeling is horror," Zuko said as he hovered over The Avatar, "at yourself. Over the destruction you caused." Zuko knew that feeling. He had felt it many times before. Namely, after his father's most recent war meeting.

"Now, are you ready to listen to me?" Zuko asked. The Avatar nodded. "Okay, get up." Zuko extended his hand to The Avatar with a slight smile on his face. The Avatar took his hand and got up.

* * *

"Remember, Aang, power in firebending comes from the breath. Not the muscles," Zuko said. The sun was now setting, so Zuko thought that he should end the lesson there. They bowed to each other and sat down with sweat dripping from their face.

"So," Aang said, "do you think I have a shot of beating the Fire Lord?"

"Right now? No, no," Zuko chuckled at this thought, "but you have the most potential to of anyone I've ever met."

After a long silence, Aang got up and said, "Alright, lets go get some dinner."

"Mine probably has spit in it."

Aang laughed, "No, Katara wouldn't do that."

It occurred to Zuko that Aang thought that he was joking.

That night at dinner, Zuko sat next to Aang around the fire with everyone else. He appeared to be one of them, but everyone knew that he was out of place; a puzzle piece that didn't fit forced into place. The only one who felt as if it was one group was Aang, who was telling some old stories to Zuko. The whole time, Katara stared daggers at Zuko, as if to say, _"Now that you're friends, you're on even thinner ice. Don't screw it up."_

_

* * *

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A/N: Again, sorry for the long wait. Allow me to suggest other Avatar fanfiction to help ease the wait between chapters! Parlor Tricks by Lyralocke and Thou Bitter Sky by SoloMoon. Both are great fanfictions.

PLEASE review. Seriously, they're coming in by a trickle. It doesn't encourage me to continue, because I don't know if people are reading or if they like it. And a cookie to anyone who figures out what avatar fan-work (fiction, art, video) is the line "Because no one else will" from.


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